MILAN, Italy – Fairtrade International is urgently calling on the European Parliament to honour the commitment made to the EU Deforestation Regulation in 2023 and reject the legislative amendment proposals made by the European People’s Party (EPP) group that contradict the urgent need to protect forests and mitigate climate change inside and outside the EU.
The EPP’s proposal demonstrates its desire to deregulate a key environmental legislation of the European Green Deal. It includes an extended delay of 24 months (instead of the 12 months proposed by the European Commission), which Fairtrade believes would jeopardise the substantial investments and efforts made by thousands of stakeholders – including companies as well as coffee and cocoa farmers – to comply with the law.
The EPP also wants to remove due diligence obligations from traders. And while this would reduce administrative burdens and costs with certain stakeholders in the supply chain, it could lead to less accountability for traders. As Fairtrade stated repeatedly, there is no environmental and social sustainability without fair sharing and management of risks across the supply chain.
Plus, the EPP amendments also called for the establishment of a “no-risk” category in the benchmarking process, which means companies would only need to show evidence of compliance if requested by the competent authority. Fairtrade believes that there are zero “no risk” categories because human rights violations and environmental degradation may happen even in regions/countries where deforestation has been decreasing. Furthermore, without associated mechanisms to incentivise forest protection and restoration, a “no risk” category could lead to unintended consequences, such as the lack of activities that support sustainable supply chains in countries at risk.
In case the amendment proposed by the EPP is unfortunately adopted, and if the EU institutions do not manage to agree on those provisions, the EUDR would become applicable at the end of December 2024 as originally planned. Fairtrade did not call for a 12-month delay, but we must all now be responsible and stand by this proposal of the European Commission in order to avoid chaos and uncertainty.
For these reasons, Fairtrade implores the European Parliament to vote down these amendments and uphold democratically decided laws while demonstrating its commitment to forests, climate change, and biodiversity. A vote on the proposed amendments will take place at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Brussels on 14 November.
